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EXCLUSIVITY AND COSMOPOLITANISM: MULTI-ETHNIC CIVIL SOCIETY IN INTERWAR HONG KONG

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 May 2020

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VIVIAN KONG*
Affiliation:
University of Bristol
*
Department of History, University of Bristol, Bristol, bs8 1tb. vivian.kong@bristol.ac.uk
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Abstract

While recent work has shown that interwar Asian civic associational culture was becoming more plural than previously understood, scholars focus mostly on transnational networks and neglect local associations co-existing in the colonial urban space. We also know little about how internationalist and liberal ideals interacted with notions of racial and national exclusion prevalent in the wider society. To overcome this, this article examines local organizations alongside transnational networks in interwar Hong Kong to understand fully how global trends in the interwar period affected colonial civic culture. Drawing on Freemasonry, Rotary, the League of Fellowship, and the Kowloon Residents’ Association, I discuss the aspirations of multi-racial urbanites in interwar Hong Kong and their limits. I argue that, while internationalism and colonial hierarchies allowed solidarity to be forged amongst multi-racial urbanites and encouraged their civic engagements, racism embedded in the society, rising nationalism, and constitutional constraints put limitations on their aspirations.

Type
Article
Information
The Historical Journal , Volume 63 , Issue 5 , December 2020 , pp. 1281 - 1302
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2020

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Footnotes

This article was made possible through the generous support of the Hong Kong History Project at the University of Bristol. I wish to thank Su Lin Lewis, Robert Bickers, and James Fellows for their advice and support. I am also thankful to the anonymous reviewers whose constructive comments benefited this article greatly.

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